


rare as the glimmer of a comet in the sky & it feels like home

by mechup



Series: without hope, without witness, without reward [4]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Cuddling, Multi, Other, Telepathic Bond, the darillium era, they're soft, this is just a whole lotta fluff & feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:27:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28315272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mechup/pseuds/mechup
Summary: It’s Christmas on Darillium.
Relationships: Missy/River Song, Twelfth Doctor/Missy, Twelfth Doctor/Missy/River Song, Twelfth Doctor/River Song
Series: without hope, without witness, without reward [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1974634
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	rare as the glimmer of a comet in the sky & it feels like home

**Author's Note:**

> here's y'all's promised Darillium fluff!!!! i went a lot of different ways with this fic but ultimately decided it'd be best as a Christmas fic so!! happy holidays to anyone who celebrates anything around now!! i love y'all

_no more keepin’ score,_

_now i just keep you warm_

_and my waves meet your shore,_

_ever and_ _evermore_

_—long story short by Taylor Swift_

* * *

Missy doesn’t _cuddle_. She is one of the most evil and deadly people in all the universe, and she most definitely _does_ _not cuddle_. 

It’s just... it’s Christmas and the Doctor at her right is solid and warm, his arm thrown across her middle and his hand resting on River’s waist. River is at her left, face pressed against Missy’s shoulder, curls wildly placed on the pillow beneath her head. Their legs are all intertwined, she can see the rise and fall of their chests as they breathe, and she doesn’t believe she’ll _ever_ get used to this. 

So no, she does not cuddle, but she also can’t bring herself to pull away from either of them. It’s not like she could climb out of bed even if she wanted to, not without disturbing them, but... she _doesn’t_ want to. She still can’t completely wrap her mind around genuinely wanting to be here, and it’s even harder to remember that they want her to stay with them. She knows she’ll have to leave at some point, because she _can’t_ stay until the end, but that doesn’t mean she can’t enjoy it while she’s here. 

She turns her head to the left, shifts forward to kiss River’s nose. She can’t help her fond smile when River adorably scrunches it in her sleep and she turns away before her hearts burst, surprised when she meets the Doctor’s open eyes. He knows better than to comment on what he witnessed her do, but she leans in to press her lips to his (to shut him up in case he does decide to say something, of course). 

Her hands come up to cup his face and he gives a hum of content, happily returning the kiss. It’s too early to form any coherent sentences so she reaches out to him with her mind, which he immediately accepts and reciprocates. She feels him everywhere around her, and it’s the most natural thing in the universe. It’s so odd to think of this, _any_ of this, as natural, but she feels utterly at home here with the two of them. Wedded bliss is not something she ever thought she’d experience, but she’s adjusted better than expected. 

She remembers the Doctor can hear her thoughts, or at least the direction they’re heading in, so she hastily steers them away. It’s not that she’s afraid of him and River knowing how she feels, because she’s _not_ ; she’s here with them now so they must know anyway. They’ve always been aware of her feelings even before she was, so there’s no reason she has to ever say it out loud. 

She deepens the kiss, barely remembering to try not to dislodge River from her position in case she disrupts her sleep. But it’s too late, she can already sense River’s vague presence from behind her. She pulls away from the Doctor, rolling back over to face River so she can kiss her awake. 

River can’t help but smile against Missy’s lips. Missy early in the day before they’ve gotten out of her bed is always one of her favorite things; she always says she hates domesticity but River and the Doctor know better than to believe her. They’ve seen firsthand how easily she fits in with them here, and they know she genuinely _likes_ being as normal as they can get (which is hardly normal at all, but at least it’s something). 

River joins the connection between the other two, completing the missing link. Missy isn’t sure when she started experiencing the relief that only comes from all three of them forming a psychic bond, but it just feels so _right_. 

It’s like she belongs with them, like they are _supposed_ to have this time together. And she hates thinking that kind of thing because she hates the idea that River’s death is inevitable, but sometimes things really just feel like they were meant to be. 

Tears have begun welling up in her eyes by the time she reluctantly breaks apart from River and she quickly blinks them back in surprise, but the other two have already felt which direction her emotions have been pulled in. She feels their concerned, inquisitive reactions and quickly reassures them it’s because she’s _happy_.

Which is not something she’d thought she’d ever get to experience. For so long, for almost all of her lives, it was only the drums and the death and the destruction in her head. As long as she survived, nothing else mattered. But then the Doctor came back into her life and she was introduced to River and... usually she hates growing attached to people, but when the two of them are at her side, looking at her like _that?_ Suddenly she doesn’t mind all that much that they matter to her more than each and every star in the sky. 

She’s always known they have something special, even when she refused to acknowledge or admit it. The universe gave her River and the Doctor and put them together for a reason, and it might have took her a while to come around but it’s proven to be the best thing that’s happened to her. 

Her past selves would absolutely despise her for this, but she doesn’t even _care_. She’s never been freer than she is now and she wouldn’t give it up for anything, not when she finally has something good. 

She takes their hands in hers, intertwines her fingers with theirs, and holds on tightly. She knows they’re going to have to move at some point — there are presents under the tree just waiting to be opened — but she’s more than content to stay here for a while, where they don’t have to remember anything or anyone else exists, where it can just be _them_ against the rest of the universe. 

She’d spent so long dreading all of it; River, the Doctor, Darillium, everything. But... it’s home. _They’re_ her home and she loves them so, so much. 

_Happy Christmas_ , she thinks to them, and happy Christmas indeed. 


End file.
